a nice break

On Friday afternoon I popped into my old office. I had just missed their annual barbecue and everyone was busy cleaning up the place, but I knew there would be little "real" work done so I got to spend an hour or so hanging out with my old cohorts and catching up.

For dinner, my homegirl Dana and her hubby and I hit our favorite Mexican place for cheese dip and Grown-Up Slushies. Brian is (among other things) a professional bass violinist and was in the middle of rehearsals for a concert Saturday night. When I asked what they were performing, Dana and Brian looked at each other, and Brian gulped before he said, "Mozart's Requiem." Little did they know that I love the Requiem and I often listened to it as study background music and don't associate it with death and destruction at all. Once we got that out of the way, Dana and I made a plan for the next day.

So Saturday we drove around downtown, which has been beautifully restored since I left, and then we saw Marie Antoinette, which we both enjoyed very much, and then I finally found a papermaking kit, so I've got something to really look forward to when I get home, and then we got all gussied up and went to the theater to hear the Requiem and Mozart's Mass in C Major, both of which were extraordinary.

Sunday morning I got up early and went to my old church, where I got to take my old place in the choir and sing with all my friends. Afterwards I joined them in the fellowship hall for lunch and then I came back to Dana's house to load up the truck and head home.

This weekend was exactly what I needed to clear my head and give me some time think about something other than going through Dad's things and working with my sister on the estate and what on earth we're going to do about this house. Today I'm going through the boxes I had stored in Dana's attic - it's surprising to find things that I thought were so important to keep two years ago that I now find myself throwing out or giving away because they're either impractical to keep or just useless junk - and then I'll be diving back into the inventory of the house. Only two more days until Steph is here so I've got a lot of work to do that will definitely keep me busy in the meantime. Many many thanks to Dana and Brian for their gracious hospitality and the opportunity to take a break from all of this!